Lewis Bingham Keeble, MC (1 January 1915 – 13 November 1994) was a British and Australian town planner, who became Professor of Regional and Town Planning at the University of Queensland, Australia.
He was born in Lewisham, London, and started work as a Planning Officer in local government in the UK. He also taught part-time. In 1950 he began full-time teaching at the University of Manchester [1] then in 1955 moved to the University of London. While there he wrote one of his well-known early books, Town planning at the crossroads. [2] He was elected President of the Royal Town Planning Institute (1965–66) [3] and later National President of the Royal Australian Planning Institute (1972–74) [4] (now the Planning Institute Australia).
He arrived in Brisbane, Australia, in 1968 to teach town planning subjects in the University of Queensland's Department of Architecture. He was appointed to a Personal Chair in 1970, then became the first Professor of the new Department of Regional and Town Planning in 1971. His inaugural lecture was called The Australian Planner's Dilemma [5] but he was perhaps better known for his massive and detailed textbook on planning called Principles and Practice of Town and Country Planning. [6] He completed his doctoral thesis [7] in 1973. He was active in the Australian Institute of Urban Studies but left Australia with his wife, Betty Trevena, to return to Oxford in 1979 where they set up a town planning consultancy. Keeble's experience during this later period led to two additional publications, Town planning made plain [8] and Fighting planning appeals. [9]
He died in Oxford on 13 November 1994. [10]